A man who presented himself as a licensed ship captain to operate commercial vessels on Lake Ontario — a ruse uncovered only after he ran a tugboat aground — has been sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.

Kirby Corp. added to its fleet of articulated tug-barges (ATBs) last year when Signal International delivered the tugs Jason E. Duttinger and Captain Donald Lowe Sr., coupled with the barges Winna Wilson and Margo Dale, respectively, to the Houston-based company.

It would be an understatement to say that Capt. John Ivanoff and deck engineer James Green really like their new pilot boat, the 63-foot Connor Foss, a Foss Maritime vessel that replaced the venerable 50-year-old Arrow No. 2 in Astoria, Ore., in 2012.

A conical drilling unit ran aground near an Alaska island in December 2012 due to “inadequate assessment and management of risks” for the tow in rough winter weather, the U.S. Coast Guard said in an investigative report.

A bulk carrier crewman working aloft using a cargo crane fell to his death at a St. Lawrence River anchorage when the crane block made contact with the underside of the boom head and the winch continued to pull, breaking the hoisting cable.

The tugboat Charlene Hunt had just reached open water southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, with a massive cruise ship in tow. After a 50-degree course change, the tug was traveling straight into 35-knot winds and 15-foot seas.

In tanks at maritime trade shows from Hamburg to New Orleans, or the pilot training pond at Port Revel, France, or in a little lake at Central Park in Burnaby, British Columbia, the remarkable models of Ron Burchett do much more than entertain.